Legacy Weapon
A Legacy Weapon is a channeling device that through continuous use over a very long period of time, has gained a sufficient degree of spatial memory resonance to become something akin to a master rune itself. These weapons are very highly prized due to the ease with which one can activate the enchantments ingrained into them, and in ancient times were typically ancestral weapons passed down through the family. It is thought that several legendary items that have since passed into myth were actually Legacy Weapons, such as Gae Bolg, a spear which allegedly transmuted its blade into thorns upon stabbing its victim, forcing the wielder to cut it from their slain foe's flesh. History Legacy Weapons have likely existed as long as channeling devices have to some degree or another. As magic is cast through a device, its affinity grows for that specific type of magic. The issue is that, similar to how runes have to be identical to the master rune to function, each time the precise form of the channeling device changes it loses the resonance. Thus, for a channeling device to become a Legacy Weapon it must be used for a very long period of time without being changed from its initial form. This requirement resulted in very few Legacy Weapons forming until the late medieval era because the faulty construction of channeling devices of that eras before that resulted in them decaying before sufficient resonance built up. Discovery The phenomena of "Sentience of Steel" had been discovered not long after the first Channeling Devices were created, but for a long time afterwards they were considered curiosities at best and were constantly being outstripped by the rapid advancement of the techniques used to create new ones. The first recorded instance of a Legacy Weapon powerful enough to be more effective than a newly made and thus less degraded channeling device was found in one of the ancient elven kingdoms destroyed in the Northern Crusades. The weapon in question was a solid bronze staff with an Areum core, and had been passed down from the owner's grandfather. The family had been poor, neither the father or the current owner had the resources to construct their own devices as was custom, so the staff had been in constant use for the family art for three generations. When the owner managed to gather the materials to create his own device later in life, they discovered that the old staff was vastly superior. After extensive testing, they found that while the new device could cast spells outside the family art as well or better than the old staff, when it came to casting the spells that the staff had been channeling for well over a century, the new device was completely inferior. Due to the staff spontaneously activating at one point to defend the wielder from an irate wild boar, it was thought for a time that the effect conveyed a degree of sentience upon the Legacy Weapon. Spread After the discovery of the phenomena, the more established wizarding families shifted from their focus on personalized channeling devices towards commissioning master artisans to create the most durable and enduring devices possible with the eventual aim of bequeathing them to their children. Less established families could not, as such devices were vastly more expensive and time-intensive to create, and so having a device passed down from your ancestors became a status symbol. The elves also shared their discovery with their allies in the human and dwarven wizarding communities, which would ultimately result in their downfall during the Northern Crusades, as the human knights attempted to confiscate every Legacy Weapon they could find, and often used the weapons against the very families that had created them. Many of those would wind up being reforged (thus destroying all but the most ancient of them) into weapons and armor for the leaders of the Knights Teutonic. Modern Day Legacy Weapons have fallen out of favor in most areas of the world, as their effects can be approximated with far less difficulty through advanced rune matrixes, and modern-day custom built channeling devices can in most cases completely outstrip a Legacy Weapon outside of its narrow specialization. While they still see some use in the less technologically advanced countries, even that is declining. The two exceptions are the isolationist Elven Kingdoms, who have continued to cultivate their use as part of their rejection of modern technology, and the Knights Illuminor, who are in possession of the largest cache of Legacy Weapons in existence, many dating back to the days of the Northern Crusades themselves. Characteristics Legacy Weapons, due to the potentially catastrophic results should they be significantly altered from their original form, tend to be made of the most durable substances available at the time of their creation. Metal staves, spears, and swords make up the most ancient of them, though there have been a few manifesting of late that take the form of early modern firearms. As they serve a similar purpose to a master rune, imitations of an ancient Legacy Weapon (known as Descendant Weapons) gain a weakened version of the weapons effects as long as they do not differ too greatly from the template. * Legacy Weapons are typically highly ornamented to individualize them as much as possible, as this eases the process of gaining resonance. This does, however, make them more vulnerable to being destroyed by otherwise superficial damage. ** This does not mean that mass-produced cannot become Legacy Weapons, but as it takes a truly absurd amount of resonance for even on mass-produced weapon to become a Legacy Weapon none have ever been discovered. Some have claimed that the AK-47 series itself has become Legacy Weapon, pointing to its legendary durability, long period of service, and near memetic status, but testing has resulted in the disproving of that theory. * There is no specific limitation on what a Legacy Weapon can be, aside from the requirement of being a channeling device. However, the more robust and durable the item is the more likely it is to survive long enough to leave the Candidate Weapon stage and become one. The main obstacle to this is the requirement that they be constantly be used, not just gain fame and recognition. Legends to not equate to actual power. * Legacy Weapons, once they get old enough, begin to also have an affinity for certain characteristics in their wielders, to the point of violently rejecting incompatible ones. It is thought that this is based on the traits of their original wielders, and changes over time depending on their successive ones. ** This trait is utterly absent from Descendant Weapons. * Legacy Weapons and Descendant Weapons require a wizard nearby to activate, but the wizard need not be the one wielding the weapon itself. The Knights Illuminor typically deploys a wizard per squad of nonmagical knights, allowing all to reap the benefits of wielding such a weapon. The identity of the wizard always concealed from the enemy at all costs. ** Legacy Weapons have been known to activate without the wizard's conscious thought should they be exposed to a stimulus they are familiar with the response to. The older the weapon, the more stimuli they react to. One such incident was recorded when an assassin attempted to knife the Lord of the Knights Illuminor in his sleep but was killed when the Lord's nearby lance responded to the threat and froze the blade and assassin both. * Descendant Weapons, unlike Legacy Weapons and like basic runes, do not require Areum to be used in their construction, but not including it results in the Descendant Weapon only being capable of using what enchantments were imprinted on its Legacy Weapon. * The most ancient of Legacy Weapons have been known to retain a portion of their accumulated resonance even upon being damaged or reforged. The effects, however, are weakened, which means that this is something to be avoided if at all possible. Classification Legacy Weapons are classified by the Knights Illuminor using a system roughly based on their level of accumulated resonance. Affinity is subjective and is roughly measured by advantage the wielders have when using the imprinted subclass of magic (and disadvantage when using others) compared to the baseline magical implements of the time. Generations are defined as successive wielders who used the Legacy Weapon as their primary channeling device and contributed significantly to the accumulation of resonance. As a basic idea, one generation roughly equates to half a century, but this is by no means a universal standard. * Spatha-class Legacy Weapons: Considered to be the first tier, and typically have relatively little resonance due to being only a few generations old. Their affinity is considered undeveloped, though still easily noticeable, and typically they will have very few, rudimentary activation triggers, typically geared towards combat. ** There are numerous Spatha-class Legacy Weapons in existence, typically in well established wizarding communities and areas with a long history of human habitation. Recently a Civil War era custom made musket was discovered to have achieved this level. * Dáinsleif-class Legacy Weapons: The second tier, and are differentiated from the first by usually being four or five generations old, and having a developed affinity for a subset of magic. They tend to have a few, circumstantial activation triggers. ** Dáinsleif-class Legacy Weapons are rare, and typically exist as imperial regalia and crown jewels. Outside of treasuries, these can be found in very old wizarding communities or museums, and typically are not found in private ownership due to their rarity and value. * Excalibur-class Legacy Weapons: The third tier, typically eight generations old at least, and have a fully developed affinity to the point of being disadvantaged when using any magic not of their subset. They have several, specific activation triggers and can offer slightly varying responses to these based on the situation. They may require certain general traits or affinities in their wielders. ** Very few Excalibur-class Legacy Weapons are known to exist today, most of them in the form of ancestral weapons of ancient wizarding families, used in the isolated Elven Kingdoms, or wielded by the Knights Illuminor. ** This is an important stage as it marks when a Legacy Weapon has gained sufficient resonance to not be completely destroyed from being damaged or reforged. It still results in them losing resonance to the point of becoming Spatha-class once more. This is why so few Legacy Weapons surpass this tier, as few have both been consistently wielded as modern weapons gained in power, and also avoided taking catastrophic damage. * Longinus-class Legacy Weapons: The fourth tier, twelve generations old at the minimum, have a fully developed affinity and are usually unable to use any magic not of their subset in exchange for vastly increased effectiveness with their imprinted subset. They may have many specific activation triggers and are capable of determining different levels of response necessary for each situation. They require distinct and usually identifiable traits in their wielders, such as common ancestry. ** These are incredibly rare and are only known to exist in the Elven Kingdoms and the vaults and hands of the Knights Illuminor. * Damocles-class Legacy Weapons: The fifth and final tier, typically eighteen generations old at least as the only ones known are those that date back to or shortly before the Northern Crusades. These are totally incapable of using any magic outside their imprinted subset, though that subset has both widened in scope and massively increased in authority, efficiency, and effect. They are known to have a wide variety of specific activation triggers, with a few becoming vaguer, and are capable of responding with a reasonable amount of force necessary for each specific situation. They are picky about their wielders, often becoming associated with one specific family or profession, and one known example, Gramr, will not allow itself to be wielded now that there are no dragonslayers among the Knights Illuminor. Fortunately, the Descendant Weapons of Gramr are less difficult. ** No known Damocles-class Legacy Weapons exist outside the control of the Knights Illuminor, and of those, only one is still openly wielded. * Fragarach-class Legacy Weapons: The proposed sixth tier of Legacy Weapons, to be implemented in the event of a Damocles-class Legacy Weapon reaches a level distinct from their previous category. Theoretically, a Fragarach-class Legacy Weapon would have overpowering mastery of its imprinted subset, to the point of suppressing the operation of other subsets in its immediate vicinity. They would have a vast array of wide activation triggers and would be capable of precisely responding to the situations that present themselves. It is expected that they will be very exacting about their wielders, and may ignore blood ties in favor of very specific traits that were a common theme in their previous wielders. ** As channeling devices themselves are a fairly recent development in the grand scheme of things, there are no examples of channeling devices both ancient enough to qualify automatically and resilient enough to not have decayed before reaching this point. Furthermore, no Legacy Weapon has reached Excalibur-class or higher, been reforged into a more durable form while maintaining enough similarity to the original to not lose the vast majority of its power, and then regained the incredible amount of resonance theorized to be necessary to reach this tier, at the moment there are no examples of this class known to exist. It is assumed, however, unless the current Damocles-class Legacy Weapons either degrade, are destroyed, or cease to be wielded to protect them, that they will eventually reach this point. It is important to note that while these tiers are a vague guide for classification, they are not absolute. The tiers scale exponentially, but raw power has never been the sole deciding factor in any conflict. Should an Excalibur-class Legacy Weapon which had been wielded for its entire lifetime by skilled warriors fight a Durendal-class Legacy Weapon which had been wielded by scientists, it is likely that the Excalibur-class wielder would emerge victorious. If there is anything that the Legacy Weapons teach us, it is that there is no substitute for experience, and that human actions, accumulated over time, can become a force capable of changing the world. Notable Examples Annwn * Caliburn ** The sword in the stone that chose the king. Caliburn was the first known Legacy Weapon to fulfill the requirements of Spatha-class though its own merit and not through rune matrices. Caliburn was enchanted to only allow itself to be drawn by those who shared the bloodline it was keyed to via a small phial in the pommel. It served as Arthur's symbol of kingship for years as long as Merlin was by his side, but was broken when he fought a battle without Merlin's approval. * Carnwennan ** A near Spatha-class Candidate Weapon that could have been a Legacy Weapon in its own right, given enough time, Carnwennan was a dagger with a light manipulation affinity that used a runic enchantment to cloak the user in shadow. Legend has it that Arthur used this ability to slay an evil witch, though the story has never been substantiated. It degraded due to Areum loss during his reign and was used to reforge Caliburn into Excalibur. Today a replica of Carnwennan shares Caliburn's climate controlled case in Annwn. * Excalibur ** Arthur's second sword, and the one that he would wield until his death at the battle of Camlann. It was forged from the shards of Caliburn with the Areum taken from Carnwennan, but the majority of the Areum was lost in the process due to the poor equipment of the era. Despite its enduring fame it never became more than a Candidate Weapon again, though it was a powerful blade due to its runic enchantments. After Arthur's death, it was taken back to Annwn and now resides in a museum there under the name Caliburn, as that was its original identity. Knights Illuminor * Durendal * Svalinn * Gramr * Ascalon * Athame * Laevateinn Japan * Kusanagi, the sword that before which all is grass. ** An example of a decayed Legacy Weapon, the Kusanagi, one of the imperial treasures of Japan, was once a weapon of immense history and repute, but centuries of serving as a ceremonial object only and lack of maintenance resulted in the blade losing virtually all of its Areum to leakage and evaporation, and furthermore losing the majority of it's acquired spatial resonance. Thus the blade that once was claimed to be capable of shredding its opponents with pressurized wind can barely create a breeze, and cannot be used as a focus for any other magecraft. The Noble House of Thornwick * Blasting Rod ** The Thornwick's flagship weapon and the family head's badge of honor. A Legacy Weapon that recently achieved Excaliber-class, the rod exponentially boosts existing magic, among other lesser-known things. Category:Magic Category:Magical Items & Artifacts Category:Knights Illuminor